A simple golden balsamic vinaigrette does double duty as both a marinade for the chicken and the dressing for this light and fresh strawberry salad. It’s the perfect main dish salad that celebrates the flavors of summer.
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“I just made this last night. It was so good! My husband said it tasted like it was from a restaurant! Haha! I think this is our new favorite meal! The chicken tasted so good with the marinade, that could be a meal in itself!” ~Lisa, FoodieCrush reader
My Favorite Main Dish Summer Salad
The best recipes are made from muscle memory. These are the recipes you’ve made time and time again, with so much repetition you really don’t even think about what you’re doing when you make it, you just do.
These recipes aren’t really even recipes at all. They’re just the wonderful result of what happens when you take the basics and then add a twist here and a switcheroo there, all depending on what’s fresh and seasonal and hanging out in the fridge. This strawberry grilled chicken salad is exactly one of those recipes and finds itself as my lucky lunch at least once a week.
It’s loaded with baby spinach, sliced sweet strawberries, creamy avocado, and a simple balsamic dressing that does double duty as the chicken marinade. Cook the chicken on the stove top or on the grill and you have a salad made for filling lunches or easy dinners.
Heidi’s Tips for Making This Salad
- I like to cook a few chicken breasts on Sunday or Monday to eat during the week in salads like this. I’ve shared how to cook them on the stove top using grill pan in the recipe card below, but if you’re ready to grill, this technique is always a grilled chicken success.
- This balsamic tarragon dressing is my standard, go-to-all-the-time salad dressings. I use white balsamic dressing because it’s a bit mellower and doesn’t dominate the flavor of the salad, instead letting all of the other flavors shine through. You can also make a classic balsamic vinaigrette, however.
- The dressing does double duty as a chicken marinade too. Remember to discard the marinade after marinating the chicken. You do NOT want to use it for the dressing after soaking in raw chicken. Ew.
Let’s Make the Strawberry Chicken Salad!
The full recipe, with amounts, can be found in the recipe card below.
Step 1: Make the Balsamic Dressing / Marinade
Whisk together the balsamic dressing, or shake it up in a jar. It’s a simple combination of:
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Golden balsamic vinegar
- Sugar
- Fresh tarragon
- Kosher salt and pepper
Step 2: Marinate the Chicken
Pour HALF of the dressing over the chicken. Set the chicken aside to marinate for at least 30 minutes.
Step 3: Grill the Chicken
Once the chicken has had time to soak up some flavor, grill until done. Then, it’s just a matter of assembling the salad and digging in! The rest of the salad comes together with:
- Fresh spinach
- Strawberries
- Avocado
- Red onion
- Feta cheese
- Sliced almonds
Heidi’s Tip: You can also make this salad with leftover grilled balsamic chicken, Greek chicken, or lemon chicken.
If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below, leave a comment to tell us what you think, and tag me on Instagram @foodiecrush.
Balsamic Strawberry Chicken Salad Recipe
Ingredients
Dressing:
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon golden balsamic vinegar
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon roughly chopped fresh tarragon
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Salad:
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 6 cups loosely packed fresh spinach
- 6-8 large strawberries , hulled and quartered
- 1 avocado , peeled, seeded and cut into chunks
- 3-4 thinly sliced rings of red onion
- ¼ cup feta cheese
- 2 tablespoons sliced almonds
Instructions
- Whisk the extra virgin olive oil with the balsamic vinegar, sugar, tarragon, kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper in a small bowl until blended.
- Place the chicken breasts in a shallow bowl and cover with half of the dressing, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes to 2 hours.
- Spray a grill pan or 12-inch non-stick pan with cooking spray and heat to medium high. Place the chicken breasts on the hot grill pan. Cook for 3 minutes then flip the chicken breasts. Cook for another 3 minutes, and turn. Reduce the cooking temperature to medium low and cook the chicken for 20-25 minutes more, turning every 5 minutes or so. Cooking time will depend on the thickness of the chicken, but it will be done when it hits 165ºF internal temperature. Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes then slice into ¼ inch slices.
- Arrange the spinach, strawberries and red onion in a bowl. Lightly toss with the remaining dressing. Add the avocado, sliced chicken and top with feta and almond slices. Serve immediately.
Nutrition
Ingredient Swaps
I always have fresh spinach in the fridge, but if you have kale, arugula, romaine, butter lettuce, or even spring mix mingling in the crisper, by all means, use it up!
The ying and yang of sweet strawberries with red onion and avocado is one of my favorite combos ever. However, you can always swap out raspberries or blueberries for the strawberries, and instead of feta, give goat cheese a try. I have and likely will again.
More Salad Recipes Using Strawberries
- Strawberry Burrata Salad
- Strawberry Balsamic Pasta Salad
- Strawberry and Tuna Salad
- Strawberry Arugula Salad
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Nice one great stuff…..
Farashadiet
So great
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This is great, That’s a great website, it really is what I was looking for, thank you for sharing!
Jessica
I have made this salad twice now and I LOVE it. I made one for my husband today also, and he thought it was amazing. He texted me from work to tell me how good it was.
I entered the recipe into myfitnesspal, using the specific brands that I used and it was 675 calories!! I was shocked. It’s still amazing, but with that many calories, I’ll be having this a lot less than I planned. The olive oil accounts for 240 calories alone.
Well Jessica, a lesson in watching the amount of oil we consume when counting calories. Thanks for sharing your calorie info.
Jennifer
Hi! Was this calorie breakdown for the entire salad (2 servings) or 1? Thank you kindly!
Jennifer
Merny
Due to health isssues, I’m not able to eat dark green veggies….Is there a lettuce I could use to substitute ? (Romaine is out)…TIA
suz
great salad how many calories, protein, fat, carbs breakdown????
Hi Suz, at this time I don’t calculate serving sizes for my recipes but if you’d like to, try My Fitness Pal to do so.
Pamela A. Graham
Strawberry avocado spinach salad with chicken very Yummy item .
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Timothy Miller
That looks both delicious and healthy!
Kristi
I LOVE this strawberry avocado salad, totally delicious!!!!
-Kristi
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good article and nice urging commented here, I am in fact enjoying by these.
Emily
This was delicious!!!! I didn’t have golden balsamic vinegar so I just used regular?? I thought the flavor were excellent! Perfect for a warm summer night.
Maren
Fabulous summer salad. A new favorite for the whole family. Thank you so much for the recipe!
I’m so glad you like it Maren.
Linda
Wow! This salad was even better than I was anticipating! Amazing blend of flavors.
Eva
Looking so yummy! I am pinning all your salad recipes.
Thank you Eva! I’m sort of a salad freak.
Jeny
Yeay, avocado are great in salad!
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Hello , I’m Thanks you so much for sharing my favorite items .
Trina and Tina
Last Sunday we went strawberry picking and now we have loads of strawberries to create wonderful dishes with. This is a perfect recipe! Dinner=done!
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Gayatri Mantra
Looks to good to eat
Becky
This looks so good Heidi!! Making this for the family this week or next and you know who will love it… Everett!! He loves strawberries and avocado! Thanks for the idea!
Laura | Tutti Dolci
Such a gorgeous salad, I see myself living on this all summer long!
Cecile - My Yellow Farmhouse
Lovely looking salad – and I’m sure it tastes as good as it looks!! ; o )
Liz @ Floating Kitchen
Couldn’t agree more, Heidi. My “non-recipes” are hands down my all time favorite recipes. This salad is gorgeous and that tarragon dressing sounds great. I don’t use white/golden balsamic very often. I need to give it a go!
Annalise @ Completely Delicious
This is so the salad I want to eat every day all spring and summer long!
Vivian | stayaliveandcooking
Now this sounds like a salad I would like to eat today! Love the photos too.
Have a great week!